Top 10 Worst Experiences

Well, where to begin. Today we arrived in Xinyang at around 12:30. Our first mistake was that we did not insist on eating 1st. Nyah and Eric were very hungry. We arrived at the orphanage and Nyah's foster Mom was standing at the gate with a few more people. Her foster Mom immediately took her. Nyah was so glad to see her! It was a beautiful thing for them to see each other. We were able to walk around the orphanage. I have to say that they obviously love the kids. There are many women there to help take care of them.

The orphanage has about 100 kids, approx. 60 are babies. We were able to go into small rooms that have some toys, for the kids to play. The building is made out of cement with long dark hall ways and narrow rooms. While we were in the toy room one of the nanny's brought in a little boy who goes by the name Jou Jou, he slept in a bed next to Nyah. He is also missing his right hand. They said that Nyah and Jou Jou looked a lot a like and have the same problem. They said that maybe we could have a boy in the family. I was little shocked but smiled and said hello to the boy. He is cute and has just entered the system.

Then we went to see where Nyah slept. We passed a couple of baby rooms, the babies were laying down for their nap times and there were approximately 20 babies in each room. When we walked into Nyah's room there were so many little ones. (I am not emotionally able to talk about all the babies yet.) I knew it would be hard for me to leave them once I was there...and it was.

We were able to visit with Nyah's Nanny. I could see quickly that Nyah was going to have a hard time and didn't want to draw things out for this reason. However, we took the Nanny and one of the workers with us to see Nyah's finding place.

Following that we decided to take Nyah's foster Mom back to the center before we had lunch. She had already eaten and I really wanted to go.

As we were getting ready to leave, Nyah freaked out. She screamed, kicked and kept calling for her Mama. We hugged the nanny and left. Nyah cried and screamed for over an hour. She was devastated! Never has my heart been so broken for another person. She was truly filled with grief. I never should have taken her. I guess she did something similar when leaving and being brought to us. No wonder she was so quiet and reserved the 1st day we got her.

Nyah was given an orange to hold by her nanny while we were at the center. She held it for the 4 hour drive and freaked out if she dropped it. She is still holding it in her crib, in her sleep.

The following 3 hours of our drive, she was almost comatose. She was either crying or laid there starring out the window. My heart breaks just thinking about it!

Thankfully she seemed to snap out of it the last hour of our drive. She started smiling again, eating and playing. She still struggles and as I said she won't take her shoes off (the ones she got at the orphanage). And, she's still holding her orange.

Of course, there is much more to say but I will wait until I get home.

Thanks for your prayers today, they were very needed!

Tomorrow is Nyah's 2nd birthday. We are going to go back to the park and McDonald's to celebrate. Also, the hotel is giving her a piece of cake to celebrate, Sweet!

Love you all,

Mel